1992. Dallas.

The days before mobile phones, meant many things to the people of Texas. Being resourceful was one of them. Fearful of what Harris would do when he discovered her plans to divorce him, Ann went to meet him at his office. She would get there before Judith had a chance to be cruel. For once, she would talk to him alone and explain herself. She would stand up to him. As she walked into the car park at Ryland Transportation she told herself this time it would be different. Final. And it was as she looked around that she realized Harris must have left early. The time it would take her to walk back to the house meant that Harris would be there before her and he would find out everything from his mother. Judith had beaten her to it. Again.

Tears streamed from her eyes and despair took over. Unable to bear the inevitable, she sank to the ground and wept. It was at this time that an old friend stopped by. Although Ann knew they weren't actually friends at all, that it was a messy co-dependence, it didn't stop her. The bar around the corner was her go to when she had to face Harris over…well, anything.

The bar man acknowledged her with the same understanding that one gives to an injured animal. Whenever Ann showed up and walked through the saloon doors, she was met with kind, knowing eyes, crinkled skin, pleasantries and of course, a drink. Approaching the bar counter, Ann looked right through the server.

"Vodka martini, please."

"Before you bother taking a sip of that, why don't you come over here and give me a hug?"

Her stomach dropped. Her eyes searched up along the bartender's neck and face for some sort of exposition. The slate of mirrored glass behind his head boasted of Jack Daniels and Jameson. It also reflected her husband's face as he stood behind her, boring into the back of her head.

Turning on her heel, Ann tried to mask her trembling chin and lower lip. The silence felt as though Harris had threatened to shoot everyone in the bar and his eyes blazed with a fury redolent of that same threat. Gesturing towards a booth at the back of the bar, Harris began to tap his fingers in impatience against his belt buckle. Her eyes fell to the ground and with everything she had, Ann uprooted her feet from the wooden floor. Refusing to take his eyes off of her, Harris watched her walk past him and followed her to the booth.

Standing in front of the table, Ann saw that he had already ordered a bottle of Chianti. The straw fiasco encasing the green glass that in turn held the fine red drug. It was waiting for her. Waiting to drown her.

"Have a seat." Harris gently touched her back as he waited for her to sit; to Ann it felt more like an executioner calling her to take to the electric chair. Reluctantly, she sat.

"You know, very few Chianti producers use the straw basket any more. Hard to get." She could feel his eyes on her face.

"Remember when we took that trip to Tuscany? Met the winemakers."

Ann's eyes moved to meet his. Was he serious?

"Do you remember that bottle we got in Siena? Gaiole in Chianti? It was your favourite."

Ann nodded.

"It takes Sangiovese grapes to make Chianti. What was it they told us Sangiovese means…in Latin?"

He was watching her intently, as if he expected her to attack him. The way a poacher eyes up a jaguar, each expecting the other to launch into battle.

"Blood of Jove." Ann replied clearly, holding his gaze.

Harris chuckled. "That's right, I was hoping you'd remember."

Cocking an eyebrow, Ann looked down at the open bottle. Unless she had misunderstood his tone, Harris was not here to fight with her.

"Now that you're here…why don't we have a little chat?"

There it was. Ann felt her throat constrict as though she was being slowly garroted.

"Annie, I don't know what came over me last night. There's no reason for you to want to change your appearance, sweetheart. You're beautiful as you are…that was all I meant. My mother is just protecting you. She doesn't know what she's saying when she gets like that. We didn't mean it." He smiled that tender way he used to when they first met.

Keeping her eyes on him, Ann tried to steady herself. Could this work to her advantage, for once?

Harris extended his arm to take up the bottle. She watched his hand as he poured her a glass. So steady. He held the base in an effortless grip with the neck hanging in mid-air. The wine poured like blood, dancing in a larger pool of its own essence. Watching it flow made Ann feel like she was being exsanguinated and Harris was about to serve her a glass of her own life source.

"I haven't eaten" she blurted out.

The pouring stopped. He raised his eyes to meet hers, gleaming with worry. Setting the bottle down, Harris reached behind its resting place, retrieving a menu. Handing her the card, his fingertips brushed against her hand lightly. Unsure if the contact was accidental, Ann quickly lowered the menu towards her chest. After a moment she looked up at him. He was watching her.

"Are you eating?"

"I'll eat if you're eating. Whatever you want, sweetheart."

When Ann had first been prescribed anti-depressants, Harris had removed all the alcohol from the house in an effort to protect her. Knowing that alcohol could kill her while on the medication, he had tried to save her from herself. The following day, he had found her in the booth they were sitting in now. As she recalled that moment he had happened upon her over a year ago, Ann began to form a question, but stopped short when she considered how the consequences of asking how he knew she would be here today would play out.

Instead, she dropped her eyes to the menu, eliciting a muted sigh from her husband. Noticing how deflated he looked at her lack of enthusiasm, Ann quickly picked up on the sign:

"Emma saw an ad for the company on tv today…"

Harris raised his head in interest. 'Oh?"

"She said….dada."

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Harris' face broke into an authentic smile that turned to happy laughter. Ann felt her chest lurch as she realized how heavy the atmosphere had been.

"Our little girl…I wish I'd been there to hear her."

Ann's eyes fell to the table.

"I wish you'd been there too."

Their eyes met. There was something moving behind that wall he had put up. Yes, everything about Harris Ryland was solid. Especially the walls he built to keep his wife out. Yet, Ann saw the look he gave her. Weakness.

Something stirred in Harris. Whether it was guilt, or fear he couldn't tell, but something was happening. Her eyelids were swollen and red while her eyes glistened from the many tears she had cried in the previous 24 hours. It broke his heart. Before he could think it through, before he could consider the consequences, Harris got up and took the menu out of Ann's hands. Around to her side of the table, he seated himself beside her and took her face in his hands. Bringing her closer to him, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her lips against his. Ann felt her heart burst with the comfort of having him to herself. Emotion tugged at her chest until she had to release it. The kiss was broken by Ann crying out, but he caught her lips again, refusing to stop. Sustenance and warmth; two things they had only ever found in each other were granted to them in that moment. When Ann placed her fingertips against his cheek, Harris felt his skin burn. He couldn't bear it.

"Don't go, Ann…please" he gasped into her mouth.

Eyes wide, Ann stared at him in shock as he continued to kiss her. Her lips wouldn't budge. He opened his eyes in confusion.

Her heart pounded in her chest as it suddenly hit her that he had in fact been pleading with her to stay where they were at the bar, to indulge him and have dinner with him. His eyes locked into hers and she knew it was too late. He could read her mind through those shining green orbs.

A snort of derision.

"Say it."

She watched as his pupils, enlarged from the amorous activity of less than 60 seconds previous, shrank back to their hardened state.

"Say it, Ann." His voice was becoming quietly dangerous.

"I'm thinking of leaving you, Harris."

Ann had never understood what she saw in his eyes after that. At the time, in her weakened and terrified state, she would have said simply, that he was angry. It wasn't until many years later that she would come to understand that this was the moment she had never seen coming. This was the moment she broke Harris Ryland's heart.

"Would you like to order food?"

"NO!" Harris roared, silencing the bar. Ann wasn't sure if his response was directed at her or the waiter, who slowly backed away from the booth.

Despite all the psychological degradation she had suffered from her husband and his mother, it made Ann's stomach knot to see Harris fight back tears. His silence spoke volumes. Words seemed useless, insulting almost. So, Ann did the only thing she could think of.

She held his hand.

"Let's go home." Harris finally broke the deafening white noise. Getting up abruptly, he walked outside before Ann had even gotten up. Hesitating, she looked out the window and saw him walk to the parking lot at the back of the building. Eventually, she followed him.

Harris stood over the side of the bonnet of his car, hands flat on the cold metal. He seemed to be staring down, either at his own reflection or at an imperfection on the car. If the car had the ability to show Harris the many flaws within himself that had led to this moment, he would have totaled it with his bare hands.

"Harris, I…"

"Is this really all I'm to expect, Annie?" He stood back from the car, searching her face for an answer.

"What?"

"Everything I've put into us, building our life as a family…? This is…you think you could leave?"

It seemed to be more of a threat towards the end, than a question and Ann noticed the shift in tone.

"After everything I've done for you?"

Ann couldn't deal with his anger any more. Even the slightest sense of rage bubbling over made her want to run. She turned and walked away from him.

"Annie? ANN!" He roared as he followed her.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Ann felt his hands on her arms as he turned her to face him.

"Have you been taking your meds like you're supposed to, sweetheart?"

She nodded as her tears fell. Harris pulled her to him. He wasn't able to admit it, but he was panicking. If he lost her, he lost everything. Ann was his only grip on sanity. She made him feel like he had some form of control. Especially in that house. With that woman.

"Sweetheart, how about we look at counseling or a therapist huh?"

Ann felt any resolve she had earlier that evening drain away along with her energy. His arms were strong and right now, she needed a crutch.

"I'm so tired" she wept into his neck.

"I know, sweetheart. I know." He slammed his eyes shut as he felt the last remaining raw piece of his heart blacken.

"Can you just try? For me and for Emma?"

Harris felt Ann's eyes squeeze shut as she wept against him. Her eyelashes stroked his skin with light, wet streaks of black mascara as she nodded her compliance with his wish.

The drive home was silent. Pulling into the driveway, Harris looked into the rearview mirror. Ann was beyond tired and certainly unable for what he could see was about to happen as he recognized the familiar shape looming in the front window of the house. To his surprise, Ann opened the passenger door and climbed out swiftly. Shutting it behind her, she looked over at him through the glass.

Ann opened the front door, with Harris walking behind her.

"Well, this certainly is a surprise."

Judith leaned against the mantelpiece eyeing Ann up and down.

"I'm sorry I ran out without saying anything. I felt…unwell."

"I bet you did." That look was enough to make a saint take a swing at Judith.

Too tired and bewildered to fight, Ann decided no more apologies were to be made.

"Goodnight, Judith."

"Ann?" She stopped and turned towards Harris.

"What do you mean you 'ran out'?"

A strange thing happened as Harris said this. Ann saw that this was a warning. It wasn't his intention to warn her, of course, but she realized instantly that what was about to happen would not be pleasant for anyone involved. Confirmation of this was delivered in Judith's smirk.

"I…left Emma with your mother. So I could meet you."

Harris moved his head back, as one does when they have just been obviously lied to.

"No, Ann. You didn't come to meet me, I met you, remember?"

"No, I came to your office looking for you…you had-"

"I met you in the bar, Ann. Like I always do when there's something wrong."

Judith chimed in "I told Harris about your little outing today, Ann. He knew to act accordingly."

Turning her attention to her son, Judith offered "I suppose she told you what she was really doing today?"

Ann felt her heart skip several beats as Harris' stare became more pointed.

"No. It didn't come up."

Judith smiled triumphantly. "Really, Ann? You go to the trouble of having divorce papers drawn up and you don't even have the courtesy to inform my son."

It started in her legs and worked its way up through her stomach and her chest until it reached her head. Shaking.

"Divorce…" it came in a whisper from him, but it was still deadly.

Paralysed with fear, Ann realized just how effective her medication was. The anti-depressants were not only masking her problems, they were also killing her brain cells. No response issued from her. No sound. No gesture. Just pure, white, tangible fear for her life.

"YOU FILED DIVORCE PAPERS?" Harris bellowed louder than either woman had ever heard from him. Shaking like a leaf, Ann nodded her head. Judith remained by the fire, gloating.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll dump them and take up therapy, LIKE I ASKED!"

Vague shimmers and sparkles filled the space that made up Ann's vision. It was too much. Gone.

She had awoken some time later in the dark. Fumbling to make out where she was, she found a familiar light switch. Illuminated, the room echoed back to her that she was alone in her and Harris' bedroom. He must have put her there. Where was he? The clock read 3.15am. The window to the master bedroom was cloaked in the heavy curtains she had picked out on their honeymoon. Getting up, she padded over to the window.

Pushing back the curtains slightly, Ann saw the dimly lit living room that jutted out in front. Shadows. Yes, Harris was there. Pacing the room. He looked agonized. Pondering whether she should go down to talk to him, Ann suddenly noticed there was someone else in the room. A shadow fell over Harris as he reclined in his chair. Judith perched herself on the arm of the recliner cradling her son to her chest. As her eyes brimmed with tears for the hundredth time that day and night, Ann blinked rapidly as she saw Judith turn. Harris with his back to the window was oblivious to the movement. It was so subtle after all, as Judith turned to look up; smirking.

Blaming the day's events for her migraine and confusion, Ann tried to ignore what she saw. Tomorrow was another day and she could spend it with Emma while she worked out a way to leave her husband. Ann made her way back to bed whilst trying to distract herself with activities she could do with Emma.

The State Fair was in town, there was always that.